Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg feared Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom would be put off if he approached him through lawyers.

On April 5, Zuckerberg picked up the phone himself to call Systrom about buying the photo sharing service, the Wall Street Journal reports. In three days of meetings in Zuckerberg’s home, the two men agreed on a $1 billion price. Lawyers and Facebook board members were not part of the process, sources tell the newspaper.

“Companies generally prefer to bring in ranks of lawyers and bankers to scrutinize a deal before proceeding, a process that can eat up days or weeks,” the Wall Street Journal says. “Mr. Zuckerberg ditched all that. By the time Facebook’s board was brought in, the deal was all but done.”

Zuckerberg was able to exert such power because he controls 57 percent of Facebook voting rights, the story says. Systrom owns about 45 percent of Instagram.